The Jazz Festival of Amiens, northern France, is back in March with a programme focused on the theme “I have a dream” and which will go through the links between music and utopias or political struggles.

From March 11 to 19, the Jazz Van (Caravane du Jazz) will give a foretaste of the festival, taking place from March 23 to 27, and will travel through the Picardy region with Yom, Misja Fitzgerald Michel and Blick Bassy.

The programme: Rachid Taha, Brigitte Fontaine, Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band, Tumi and the Volume, Speech Debelle, Ogres de Barback, Bombes 2 bal, Seb Martel, Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal ….

There will be also a great many of special creations. The opening night, especially, will set the tone with « Times they are a-changin », a unique creation for 2 harmonies and 5 singers, designed and arranged by Sarah Murcia.

The 120 musicians of Harmonies of Roye and Epehy will accompany with Mamani Keita (Mali), Rodolphe Burger, Jim Yamouridis (Greece/Australia), Kamilya Jubran (Palestine), Fantazio. Together they will play songs of struggle, hope and protest, famous or exhumed, from songs of renowned French singer Georges Brassens, Bob Marley, Sayed Darwish, Public Enemy, Mikis Theodorakis, Bob Dylan, Jungle Street Band, La Bande à Rosa, Zebulon and many others.

But also …

Noel Akchoté Solo with his performance Revolver. Alone with his electric guitar, he will play covers of Daft Punk, Lou Reed, John Fahey, Ornette Coleman and he will give his very personal version of subversion.

Eric Legnini Trio and special guest Fabrizio Bosso. The pianist will play songs he knows well, soul music of the 60’s, with blaxploitation and black power.

Seb Martel for a tribute to Woody Guthrie.

More information: www.amiensjazzfestival.com

The 29th Amiens International Film Festival will be hitting the screens from November 13^th to 22^nd, 2009. As usual, it includes a competition section (full length and short films), retrospectives, tributes and panoramas.

Competition:

Seven short films, devoted this year to young writers in Europe, as well as twelve full length films, coming from all around the world and especially Africa, Asia and Latin America, will be competiting for the festival’s prizes.

Tributes:

Guillermo Arriaga, Mexican writer, director and scriptwriter ; Turkan Soray, Turkish actress ; Flora Gomes, a major African film director (Guinea-Bissau) and Jeon Soo a growing film director in Korean cinema.

Retrospectives:

These eighth retrospectives, as part of the Turkish cultural season dedicated to worldwide major studios, will be devoted to the Yesilçam studios with a focus on work and representation of women.

The second part of the retrospectives “Actors Studio and New Hollywood”, initiated in 2008, is centred this year on the late sixties’ new generation actors.

Eventually, the “Film and Mexican Revolution” retrospective highlights two major figures of Mexican history: Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. On this occasion, fiction films from Mexico, Hollywood or Europe in relation with these two iconic figures will be shown.

More information:

Amiens International Film Festival: www.filmfestamiens.org

Amiens Tourist Office: www.amiens-tourisme.com

]]> http://www.toorismag.com/en/amiens-international-film-festival-in-the-somme-area/feed/ 0